From the Files

American grandslam winner Murphy Jensen was believed to be hiding out in the Banchory area as the Piper went to press on Wednesday, July 6, 1995.

The former French Open men’s doubles winner was due to play a mixed doubles match at Wimbledon on the Monday, but instead disappeared in mysterious circumstances.

Initially, there were fears the Michigan native had been kidnapped until it surfaced that he’d phoned his sister to say that he was still in London.

There were unsubstantiated reports of him fishing somewhere in the North of England, but the hunt to find the missing tennis pro turned to Scotland on Tuesday night.

He was thought by some to have caught a flight from London to Aberdeen, and made his way into Deeside by taxi.

Jensen’s disappearance made him the third player to default in the Wimbledon of 1995 - Jeff Tarango stopped in the middle of his third-round encounter to tell the umpire he “was the most currupt official in the game”, followed by Tarango’s wife slapping said umpire, and Tim Henman was disqualified for slamming a ball in frustration at losing a point, that unfortunately hit a ball girl in the head and made her cry.

Exactly where the rumours that Jensen Murphy was anywhere near Deeside are unclear today.

Vague plans to save the Blairs College building

It was claimed that the historic Blairs College building on the South Deeside Road could be saved if a plan lodged with the district council the previous week got the go ahead this week in July, 1995.

The John Muir Group submitted an outline planning application which would see Robert Gordon University set up an urban village, a campus, and a technology park at the site, ensuring a future for the former Roman Catholic Seminary.

In March, 1995, the Kincardine and Deeside District Council rejected the Muir Group’s previous plans to build around 2,000 homes around the college buildings.

Despite residents being delighted that these plans were rejected, the majority were in agreement that something must be done to save the college building before it was too late.

Robert Gordon University lodged a planning application which sparked outrage in the area, with traffic congestion being chief among reasidents’ concerns.

Bill Anderson, Chairman of the North Deeside Rural Community Council, said he thought it would be great if the building could be used for educational purposes, but added that the new proposals were a little vague, and asked the question, “what is an ‘urban village’?”

Culter FC Pres is optimistic for his club’s future

The Culter Juniors FC President Eric Duncan announced that the club were looking to the new season with optimism, on this week in 1995, following a disasterous 1994-95 cup campaign.

Out of 33 games played against Premier Division sides in that campaign, they lost 18 games, winning only eight.

And in the 43 games they played in all competitions, they tallied up a goal difference of minus-ten, scoring 64 but conceeding 74.

In the club’s annual report Mr Duncan described the season as being “traumatic for all concerned”.

Ho wrote: “We suffered our heaviest defeat since entering junior football, several seasons ago and this resulted in the resignation of of our co-managers Les Mason and Charlie Ferries.

“Our league position at the end of 1994 was precarious and morale was generally very low.

“Our thanks must go to Dougie Grant, Alex Irvine and Peter Robertson for temporarily tending to the football management side while interviews took place for a new management team.

Tommy Madden and Ernie Drews were appointed co-managers and Mr Duncan said it was thanks to them that Culter survived the Premier League.